But Actinium-225 has shown promise in experimental uses on late stage cancer patients as an actual radioactive medicine that can kill cancer cells — and only cancer cells — by delivering an intense but hyper-local blast of energy. The idea is that a particle of Actinium-225 can be bound to a particle of a drug that selectively attaches only to cancer cells. When that happens, a sort of trigger prompts the Actinium-225 particle to decay in a cascade of “daughter” and “grand-daughter” isotopes. “Basically you’re taking a heavy particle from radioactive decay and shooting it into the cell,” he said. Now, in the nuclear world, by “moving beyond the bottles” to proton accelerators, he is “transmuting” one element into another by smashing particles together.

Source: National Post September 16, 2018 17:56 UTC